Last week, Statistics Canada released census data from 2021, which shows that bilingual Canadians speaking both English and French earn more money.
In Canada, the average salary for those who could speak both English and French was $60,550, which is over 10% more than the average for those who could only speak English ($55,250) and approximately 40% higher than the average for those who could only speak French ($43,040).
Every Canadian province could see these bilingual income gaps. However, Quebec cities have the most prominent differences.
The census data shows that an English and French speaker in Montreal earned 40 per cent more on average than someone who just spoke one of these languages.
Employees in both categories in Montreal who could only speak one language made an average of $43,280 per year compared to those who could speak both languages and earned an average of $60,650.
Employees in Toronto who only spoke English made an average salary of $59,600. In comparison, those who speak English and French made an average salary of $78,400, denoting a difference of approximately 32 per cent.
Data also reveals a decline in French speakers nationwide.
Another StatCan census discovered that the proportion of Canadians identifying French as their mother tongue fell between 2016 and 2021 in all provinces except Yukon.
The number of Canadians whose mother tongue was neither English nor French reached a record high this year, reflecting a rise in the country’s linguistic variety.
Statistics Canada shows that, except in Quebec, English and French are becoming less common in all Canadian provinces, despite the higher economic advancement it brings.
In 2016, the percentage of people who could speak English and French rose from 44.5 to 46.4 percent in Quebec. Wherein Gatineau, Montreal, and Quebec City had the largest proportions of bilingual residents.
Following the approval of a new language law in Quebec that restricts access to bilingual services offered by the provincial government, the census figures have been made public.
Francois Legault, the premier of Quebec, received backlash for raising the alarm about a decline in the number of people who speak French at home.
Source: CTV News
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